Bitcoin’s recent wobbles have given fresh urgency to a question that’s gripped market observers for much of the past year: Will the cryptocurrency go down as one of history’s most infamous bubbles, alongside tulipmania and the dot-com craze?

The magnitude of Bitcoin’s boom (before it lost as much as 50 percent from its Dec. 18 high) suggests investors have reason to be worried.

As the chart shows, the cryptocurrency’s nearly 60-fold increase during the past three years was truly extraordinary.

It dwarfed the Nasdaq Composite Index’s gain during the headiest days of the 1990s. Going further back, it comfortably outstripped the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles of the 1700s. It even topped the Dutch tulipmania of the 1630s, though that last comparison should be taken with a grain of salt given the scarcity of recorded tulip values. (The chart includes prices for just one varietal; consistent post-peak figures were unavailable.)

Bulls say that Bitcoin’s boom is far from over, and that there’s more to analyzing a market than just measuring price gains. While the recent tumble has alarmed some investors, the cryptocurrency has bounced back from several previous swoons exceeding 50 percent. If Bitcoin did become a widely-accepted form of digital gold, as predicted by Cameron Winklevoss of Facebook fame, it could have a lot further to surge.

There’s also more than one way to slice a rally. On an annualized basis, Bitcoin’s three-year rise has been slower than the gains seen during several of history’s biggest manias — most notably the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles.

Still, skeptics abound. Howard Wang of New York-based Convoy Investments LLC and Jeremy Grantham of GMO LLC have analyzed Bitcoin’s advance relative to past frenzies and concluded that it’s unsustainable. Grantham, who helps oversee about $74 billion as GMO’s chief investment strategist, summed up his concerns in a Jan. 3 letter to investors:

“Having no clear fundamental value and largely unregulated markets, coupled with a storyline conducive to delusions of grandeur, makes this more than anything we can find in the history books the very essence of a bubble,” he wrote.

The strategist has a mixed record of success with such warnings. While Grantham was correct to call the 1990s surge in tech stocks a bubble, he exited too soon and missed out of some of the market’s biggest gains.

Only time will tell whether Grantham and other bears are right, wrong, or just too early when it comes to Bitcoin.

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Bitcoin increased as much as 7.7 percent to a record $8,290 since 2:47 p.m. in New York. It &#x 2019; s been a troubled year for the virtual currency, with 3 different depressions of more than 25 percent all paving the way to subsequent rallies.

Even the most bullish experts can &#x 2019; t stay up to date with bitcoin &#x 2019; s rally. Perspective Research &#x 2019; s Ronnie Moas, who states bitcoin &#x 2019; s market cap will one day reach gold at $8 trillion, is raising his 2018 cost target for the digital currency to $14,000 from $11,000. He had increased it from $7,500 last month.

&#x 201C; The inflation in this thing is huge, &#x 201D; Luke Hickmore, a senior financial investment supervisor at Aberdeen Standard Investments in London, stated in an interview with Bloomberg TELEVISION. &#x 201C; When will it collapse? Who understands. It will trigger a great deal of discomfort. &#x 201D;

Even as lots of doubters call the property a bubble waiting to pop, it &#x 2019; s ending up being too huge for numerous on Wall Street to overlook. CME Group Inc., the world &#x 2019; s greatest exchange, will begin providing futures trading on bitcoin next month, while senior executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. have actually stated they are looking into cryptocurrencies and the blockchain innovation that underlies them.

Recent volatility has actually originated from a pickup in individuals changing to alternative virtual currencies, significantly bitcoin money. That &#x 2019; s acquiring appeal due to lower deal expenses and faster speed. New cryptocurrency&#xA 0; versions are emerging as disputes over bitcoin &#x 2019; s style continue and chances for making a fast dollar show tough to miss .

Bitcoin money dropped 0.6 percent on Monday to trade at $1,189, below a high of $1, 388 on Nov. 12,&#xA 0; Coinmarketcap.com costs reveal. Bitcoin has actually advanced more than 700 percent this year and now boasts a market price of more than $130 billion.

&#x 201C; I discover it rather frightening and exceptional how, no matter just how much bitcoin is pounded by sellers, it merely gets better even more powerful, &#x 201D;&#xA 0; stated Lukman Otunuga, an expert at currency brokerage ForexTime Ltd. &#x 201C; Will bitcoin strike $10,000 prior to year end? This is the concern every financier is asking. &#x 201D;

Uncertainty surrounding another possible split in bitcoin is weighing on the worth of the numerous other digital tokens that have actually been released this year as the rate of the most significant cryptocurrency skyrockets.

&#x 201C; Everyone constantly thinks of going to bitcoin as a conservative position, &#x 201D; stated Stan Miroshnik, president of the Element Group, which assists start-ups with preliminary coin offerings.

While bitcoin &#x 2019; s underlying network is slated to go through a significant software application upgrade in November to increase deal speed and lower expenses, it might likewise trigger disturbances. Since it generally provides higher liquidity in times of unpredictability, financiers are playing it safe and moving funds from other digital currencies into bitcoin.

And there is the bonus offer of extra coins being released to owners if designers divided the blockchain, the digitized journal on which the bitcoin is based. That currently occurred today with the production of bitcoin gold, which happened 3 months after bitcoin money was produced.

As bitcoin flirts with another record high, rates of lots of tokens that startups offered to raise capital are crashing . The Bletchley Ethereum Token Index is down almost 16 percent in the last month. Around 10 percent of the cash purchased tokens has actually currently drained due to the fact that of the software application switch, inning accordance with Lucas Nuzzi , a senior expert at Digital Asset Research.

That might suggest a disrespectful awakening for the numerous business preparing offerings. Some 75 ICOs are currently arranged for November, up from 64 last month, inning accordance with CoinSchedule.

Some business, such as virtual-goods trader Wax , are changing the timing of ICOs due to the fact that of the software application modification. Numerous offerings raise funds through bitcoin, and financiers #x &aren 2019; t parting with those. The switch, understood in market terminology as a tough fork, might likewise cause other disturbances. Coinbase, the leading online exchange, will stop bitcoin trading for 24 hours prior to the upgrade.

“”Forks have lots of unpredictabilities,” “stated Malcolm CasSelle, president of Wax, which pressed the start of its presale back a week to Oct. 17. “”Many exchanges #x &wear 2019; t permit funds to move. That friction indicates token sales are decreased.””

Miners, whose computer systems support the network, are divided on whether they &#x 2019;d assistance the modification, called SegWit2x, or not. That might cause other problems, such as sluggish deal times.

“”The markets appear to believe that the fork will go efficiently,” “stated Kyle Samani, handling partner at crypto hedge fund Multicoin Capital. “” I do not think that it will. If things go additional improperly, it might tank the entire market, or we might see a significant flight to bitcoin/ether.” “Ether is the second-largest cryptocurrency in market price after bitcoin.

Some financiers are even doubling down on bitcoin, hoping a split will bring extra earnings. Since not all computer systems running the network will change to the brand-new software application, that will lead to development of 2 contending networks, each running its own variation of the currency. Holders of bitcoin will get both coins.

Bitcoin money, the brand-new version of the currency when it divided for the very first time last summer season, rallied for nearly a month prior to decreasing. After a 2nd split today, bitcoin continued its increase, while holders likewise got bitcoin gold, which is presently worth about $122 . Bitcoin &#x 2019; s rate has more than doubled, to $5,956, because the time of the very first split.

“”ICO tokens are not the hot story at the minute, however might go back to the leading edge of individuals &#x 2019; s creativities as the bitcoin fever trade relaxes and a look for yield returns in other markets,” “stated Charles Hayter, co-founder of market tracker CryptoCompare .